Running back Rico Dowdle said he talked to Young in the locker room after the game, and said “he felt OK,” indicating it wasn’t a significant injury.
“Hopefully it’s minor,” Dowdle said.
Young was injured while taking his only sack of the day in the third quarter. Canales said he tested it on the sidelines after getting treatment and didn’t feel comfortable enough to continue.
Backup Andy Dalton came in and finished the game, sealing it with a 33-yard pass to Xavier Legette that allowed him to kneel out the clock for the second time this year.
Young didn’t talk to reporters afterward, and Dalton said he didn’t get a chance to interact with him before he entered the game.
Young was working with the team’s medical and athletic training staff, and Dalton heard someone tell him to warm up, so that’s what he did.
“Then, as he was testing it out, I found out I was going to be the one going in, and so you know it’s just how it goes,” Dalton said.
Canales said if Dalton had to play next week, the offensive philosophy would remain the same.
“We’ll look at all that and see what the best version of us is,” Canales said. “But right now it’s running the football, and Andy can handle all those things and the pass game, the reps, the time on task with the group that we have, we’ve got to stay within the core of our system, and Andy’s fully involved in all that.
“So if he does play, that’ll be the mode.”
